Regulation

The Insurance Council of Australia has submitted a revised General Insurance Code of Practice to ASIC that would write its obligations into consumer contracts and automatically accept home and motor property claims left undecided for 12 months, while AFCA's 2025-26 review recorded 36,022 general insurance complaints, up 5%, with claim delays up 25% to 8,246.

The Central Bank of the UAE's Insurance Company Licensing Regulation (Circular 4/2026), in force from August 14, 2026, replaces the 2009 Insurance Authority rules, treats foreign insurers as branch applicants only, sets 60-business-day application and decision windows and lets the regulator remove senior managers and board members.

IRDAI's public consultation paper proposes cutting life insurers' expense-of-management limit to 15% of gross direct premium within two years and 12.5% within five, replacing the distributor landscape with three categories, and adding claw-backs for mis-selling, with comments due on October 25, 2026 and reports that the regulator may extend the window.

A 'power event' in Google Cloud's europe-west2 London region caused an hours-long outage on October 20, 2026 that affected Revolut card payments and ATM withdrawals and was reported by Lloyds and HSBC customers; the FCA said it is working with Google and affected firms.

On July 7, 2026 APRA finalised amendments to its general insurance reinsurance framework, effective January 1, 2027, making alternative reinsurance arrangements easier to access and reducing approval requirements, with updated reporting forms due in the test environment in September 2026.

At its 137th meeting on July 28, 2026, chaired by Ajay Seth, IRDAI approved seven regulations aligning the rulebook with the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha Act, 2025, including the Policyholders' Education and Protection Fund Regulations and stricter intermediary rules aimed at curbing mis-selling.

In a letter dated September 30, 2026, ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland told insurer boards it will review for-profit claims management firms, found that no sampled motor insurer explained why premiums changed, and said at least 63% of finalised Cyclone Jasper home claims included a cash settlement.

Canada's banking and insurance supervisor said its final Capital Adequacy Requirements guideline takes effect November 1, 2026, its mortgage insurer capital test (MICAT 2027) on January 1, 2027, and that insurance regulatory returns are being updated for IFRS 18, with the first final returns due January 1, 2027.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore opened a consultation on September 30 that would require prior approval for nominating committee chairs at locally incorporated banks and insurers, raise minimum board sizes and tighten the definition of an independent director.

Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered Prudential of Japan to stop soliciting new business from October 13 to January 31, 2027, and Gibraltar Life to suspend its employed sales channels, after misconduct by more than 100 employees.

SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said on October 15 that the market regulator has written to the insurance regulator, as it also works on adding bank deposit information to the statement investors receive from depositories.

The Bank of England's Prudential Regulation Authority wants bank, insurer and credit union thresholds to rise with the economy on a five-year cycle, ending ad hoc updates; responses are due by February 7.

India's insurance regulator has proposed product-level commission ceilings and lower expense-of-management limits, a draft that could reshape how banks, brokers and agents sell policies; feedback closes October 25.

Australia's corporate regulator has set its 2026-27 general insurance priorities, finding that no sampled motor insurer explained premium changes and that at least 63% of finalised Cyclone Jasper claims included cash settlements.

Australia's prudential regulator proposed in July to amend ten prudential standards, fifteen reporting standards and two practice guides, with submissions closed on August 21, finalisation expected in November and most changes starting January 1, 2027.

The one-year grace period under Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 closed on September 16, and a law-firm newsletter reports the central bank granted no blanket extension; fines can reach AED 1 billion.

The PRA and FCA want a tailored regime for single-parent captives with 4-to-6-week authorisation and lighter rules; no captive insurers are currently established in the UK.

ASIC secured $830 million in court-ordered civil penalties and $644 million in consumer remediation in 2025-26, against $104.1 million in penalties the year before; insurance-related actions include the $23.5 million Cbus trustee penalty over claims delays and cases against Hollard and RACQ Insurance, and insurance complaints and claims handling remain a 2026 priority.

From July 15, 2026, UK interest-free 'Deferred Payment Credit' offered by a lender separate from the retailer is regulated by the FCA under policy statement PS26/1: lenders must check affordability, give key information, and customers can use the Financial Ombudsman and, in some cases, Section 75 refund rights.

OSFI's Annual Risk Outlook for 2026-27, released on April 14, 2026, names real estate secured lending, non-bank financial institution risk (reintroduced) and liquidity and funding risk as its priorities, and sets targeted plans for insurers covering private credit, cyber, AI in underwriting, claims inflation and catastrophe resilience.

MAS consulted until July 31, 2026 on amendments to its Technology Risk Management Notices covering insurers, banks, payment firms and others, proposing IT asset inventories, risk registers, capacity planning, change management, continuous monitoring, immutable or offline backups, and counting partial or intermittent disruption toward the four-hour annual downtime limit.

Under policy statement PS25/22, firms can now offer 'suggestions designed for groups of consumers with common characteristics'; the FCA Board confirmed the rules on February 26, applications opened on March 2, and the FCA estimates about 23 million consumers are underserved by advice and guidance.

Governor Josh Stein signed House Bill 315, the Prohibit Litigation Investments Act, on June 22, 2026, banning third-party litigation investment in North Carolina civil proceedings with nine exceptions, civil penalties of up to $50,000 per violation and a private right of action for treble damages.

The Prudential Regulation Authority's solvent exit planning rules (PS20/24 and SS11/24) took effect on June 30, 2026; insurers prepare a Solvent Exit Analysis as part of business as usual, supervisors may request it from that date, and Lloyd's managing agents, passive run-off firms and UK branches of overseas insurers are out of scope.

India's insurance regulator published a draft on June 17, 2026 setting a formal procedure for making regulations and issuing subsidiary instructions, with at least 21 days of public comment and a review of every regulation every three years; comments were due by July 8.

Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2025 consolidated UAE banking and insurance regulation under the Central Bank, widened the regulatory perimeter to technology platforms and gave regulated firms a one-year transition ending in mid-September 2026.

IRDAI's exposure draft (comments until July 6, 2026) would let non-operative holding companies merge into their insurer subsidiaries, restructure share-transfer approval thresholds, allow foreign SPVs from FATF-compliant jurisdictions and reserve insurance-related names for insurers.

The FCA's December 18, 2025 response to a Which? super-complaint accepts firms must do more under the Consumer Duty, will expand work on claims handling and sales processes, rejects a market study and will publish an update by the end of 2026.

In a letter dated May 2026 and signed by Commissioner Simone Constant, ASIC said misuse of frontier AI could expose vulnerabilities faster and at greater scale; it urges firms to patch quickly, limit exposure, test incident plans and table the letter at the board.

Parliament passed the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill on December 16-17, 2025, raising the foreign investment limit in Indian insurers from 74% to 100% and giving IRDAI wider powers over intermediaries and boards.

IRDAI's May 25, 2026 circular amending its 2024 master circular on corporate governance makes six customer- and soundness-related parameters worth 50% of the assessment for variable pay of key management personnel, effective from FY 2026-27.

KBRA's June 8, 2026 research says private letter ratings are not synonymous with private credit and that a higher regulatory capital charge differs from a realised loss; the NAIC amendment's January 2026 start has been delayed.

According to Insurance Business citing the Financial Times, the NAIC is examining the ratings on data centre investments held by insurers; privately placed bonds were 23.4% of admitted bonds in 2025 per S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Merck will pay more than $50 million, according to people familiar with the matter, to settle more than 200 dismissed North Carolina cases and a Los Angeles case set for trial, ending Gardasil litigation apart from one case without admitting liability.

The Financial Conduct Authority's final report, published on February 3, found no need for an APR cap, a 0% mandate or a commission ban for monthly payment of motor and home insurance, relying instead on Consumer Duty supervision.

APRA finalised targeted changes to its CPS 230 operational risk standard on April 30, 2026, exempting material arrangements with certain non-traditional service providers from specific contract terms where compliance is not practicable, effective July 1, 2026.